Assessment of Cartesian/Cubic Grid Systems for Computational Fluid Dynamic Analysis of Complex Geometries.

Abstract

A MacCormack time-stepping predictor-corrector method was applied to compressible subsonic flow about a NACA 0012 airfoil, using a composite van Driest turbulence model and a lowest order boundary condition interpolation. Since good AGARD pressure data was available, it was possible to compare processor times under the two grid systems for identical average pressure (lift) errors. The Cartesian system turned out to be less efficient by a factor of only three. Specifically, a 272x145 rectangular grid characterized by dense, point-wasteful bands competed with a 121x45 body oriented grid burdened with coordinate stretching factors. Some elementary analysis accompanying the numerical experiments gives further grounds for believing that Cartesian/cubic grids may be only modestly less efficient than the more standard, body oriented ones, while affording far greater generality and requiring far less operator intervention.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1996
Accession Number
ADA321077

Entities

People

  • Christen Y. Li
  • Francis X. Hurley
  • Steven H. Lai
  • Tony C. Min

Organizations

  • North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boundaries
  • Boundary Layer
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Engineering
  • Flow
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Fluid Flow
  • Geometry
  • Grids
  • Layers
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • North Carolina
  • Pressure Distribution
  • Static Pressure
  • Transient Response Analysis

Readers

  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Finite Element Method (FEM) for solving Partial Differential Equations (PDEs)
  • Mathematics or Statistics